Videos

On April 17, 2012, Tax Day over 150 area residents stood up, marched and placed the blame for the U.S.’s economic suffering directly where it belonged: Tax cuts and tax cheats; Financial Speculation and Policies Favoring only the 1%; and excessive military spending.

This video is of the delivery of the overdue tax bill to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), one of the 2010 top 20 Pentagon contractors.

As part of the delivery Dave Pack, AFSC KC program committee clerk, represented Pres. D. D. Eisenhower, and reminded us, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms in not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”

On April 17, 2012, Tax Day over 150 area residents stood up, marched and placed the blame for the U.S.’s economic suffering directly where it belonged: Tax cuts and tax cheats; Financial Speculation and Policies Favoring only the 1%; and excessive military spending.

This video is of the delivery of the overdue tax bill to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), one of the 2010 top 20 Pentagon contractors.

As part of the delivery Ira Harritt, AFSC KC program coordinator, comment, “There is no hope for our future while the largest corporations and the richest 1% craft tax codes and other legislation to enrich themselves and impoverish the rest of us... Wasting 60% of our tax dollars on wars while underfunding education, health care and investments for our future for the sake of corporate profits is immoral and self destructive for our nation.”

On May 28, 2010, Anastasio Hernández Rojas, a 42-year old construction worker, husband, father of five children, and long-time resident of San Diego, was brutally beaten and repeatedly shot with a Taser while handcuffed, and died as a result of this assault by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego.

The violent incident occurred during rush hour in one of the busiest land ports on the U.S.-Mexico border. Witnesses pleaded with the border agents to stop the beating, but they did not. Despite community outcry, protests, and countless meetings with agency leadership, the Border Patrol has taken no public action to hold the agents involved accountable.

Sadly, Anastasio’s death was not unique. Since 2010, Border Patrol agents have killed at least seven residents of border communities and left several others seriously wounded. Along with Anastasio’s wife and children, the other families are still waiting for justice after Border Patrol agents killed their loved ones.

Along with the Southern Border Communities Coalition, we are asking President Obama to open an investigation into these deaths, and to hold accountable those who committed these acts.

The detention and deportation of immigrants has reached an all-time high under the Obama administration. Fault Lines investigates the business of immigrant detention and finds out how a few companies are shaping U.S. immigration laws.

Marking Palestinian “Land Day,” students from the occupied Palestinian territory and colleges and universities around the United States have joined AFSC and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in sending a video message to one of the largest financial services companies in the United States: divest from corporations that profit from the Israeli occupation. This three minute video calls on TIAA-CREF to end its investments in corporations that profit from Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Some of these corporations include Veolia, Hewlett-Packard, and Caterpillar that often provide services or products on U.S. campuses, but also help to entrench the system of inequality and military occupation in Israel and Palestine.

Dr. Tom Magstadt earned his PhD in International relations from John Hopkins University. He has taught at UJMKC, University of Nebraska, the Air War College and worked as a CIA analyst. Dr. Magstadt discussed the political impacts of the Iraq war and Iran policy.

On March 19, 2012, the ninth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war the American Friends Service Committee organized the community forum "Legacies of the Iraq War /Lessons for U.S.'s Iran Policy" at UMKC, Kansas City, MO. Panel members commented on the human, economic and political impacts of the Iraq war on Iraq and the U.S. They offered an analysis of U.S.- Iran relations, shared comment on how Iranians view the conflict and how identified lessons the U.S. should take from Iraq to guide U.S.- Iran policy.

Part #2: Dr. John Henry is a UMKC professor of economics focusing on the history of economic thought. He is the author of two books and numerous articles. He had taught at California State University-Sacramento, and at Cambridge and Staffordshire, England. John shared the view of the inadequacy of economics to quantify the costs of war.

On March 19, 2012, the ninth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war the American Friends Service Committee organized the community forum "Legacies of the Iraq War /Lessons for U.S.'s Iran Policy" at UMKC, Kansas City, MO. Panel members commented on the human, economic and political impacts of the Iraq war on Iraq and the U.S. They offered an analysis of U.S.- Iran relations, shared comment on how Iranians view the conflict and how identified lessons the U.S. should take from Iraq to guide U.S.- Iran policy.

Who we are

AFSC is a Quaker organization devoted to service, development, and peace programs throughout the world. Our work is based on the belief in the worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice. Learn more

Where we work

AFSC has offices around the world. To see a complete list see the Where We Work page.